


Monster

by KeithAK (SirenLyric)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Spider-Man Fusion, Angst, Blood and Injury, M/M, Male Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Mind Control, Psychological Trauma, Trans Pidge | Katie Holt, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:00:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27901138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirenLyric/pseuds/KeithAK
Summary: After a close call with Doc Oc, our heroes are resting and relaxing only for Keith to find out that there are more voices in his head than just his alien second half. Tune in as our villain turned anti-hero fights the bug he can’t seem to shake, as well as the arachnid he truly loves. Will Spider-Man find the cause of his partner’s behavior before it’s too late, or will Pidge himself be exterminated.
Relationships: Keith/Pidge | Katie Holt
Kudos: 4
Collections: Kaleidoscope: A Fantasy Kidge Zine 2020





	Monster

_ “Everyone stay in your homes, this is Nadia Rizavi here to announce that the one and only Spider-Man is having an epic battle in the center of Queens!”  _

_ Ah, Queens, New York, one of the most popular boroughs in the state. Not for its pizzerias or talented skateboarders shredding along the concrete day by day, not even for it’s hustle and bustle as people go from train to cab as they lead their busy lives.  _

_ No, it’s for the sudden chaos that can happen in a moment's time, how cars can be flung like toys and destruction reigning at every corner. For their strong and resilient people who rise from the ashes after each villain threatens their peaceful disarray with a new vigor. The thing that makes this borough special though, is that it holds a young hero in its arms, one who would give his very life to save us all.  _

“I’ll crush you little spider! You’ve been a menace for far too long, your days of foolish heroism end here!” A gravelly voice called out as metallic limbs flew through the crisp New York air, all circling to keep their host moving while aiming for one special target.

“That the best you could do, Haggar? Short jokes? If I’m so little why don’t you just put me in a cup and let me go in the yard?” He stood, hands on his hips, taunting the other with the usual arachnid themed quips and sass that gave him his charm. Ah yes, it’s your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, here to save the day and hopefully make it home before his boyfriend starts dinner. 

_ Doctor Honerva Haggard, aka Haggar, is a scientist from Galra Corp that has dedicated her life to its founder, Zarkon. She gained four mechanical arms after a freak accident while testing out neurotechnology. The arms are linked directly to her brain via neurotech. _

“Because impish pests like you must be exterminated at once!” With that, a nearby car went flying, just barely hitting the pint-sized hero, sending him flying into a nearby wall, breath escaping him.  _ And Keith says it’s forgetting to take my binder off that gives me back pain.  _ He thought to himself, something already told him today would be a bad day.

* * *

Keith sighed as he called Pidge’s phone one last time, knowing there were a million reasons why his calls were ignored. He just hoped that it wasn’t the life threatening, super-villain fighting kind. The stern line of pursed lips showed he was lost in thought, worries flooding his head. He’d definitely be cancelling dinner plans tonight.

‘ _ Worried?’ _ He heard the symbiote ask, rousing him from his thoughts. 

_ Keith Kogane, a news reporter as well as the anti-hero known as Venom, is the only one Pidge entrusted with his secret identity. Keith is always helping Spider-Man through thick and thin, no matter the task. Bonded with a member of an alien race, the black sentient sludge, otherwise known as a symbiote, gives him powers beyond imagination. As well as a hunger for chemicals in the human brain. Don’t worry, he’s working on that. _

“Yeah, I just don’t want anything bad to happen. I hate seeing him come home bruised and scratched up, especially since he can’t heal as quickly as you heal me, and even with advanced healing there’s still a risk for infection if it isn’t done in seconds.” He shook his head. Pidge was strong, he could handle himself, but just to be safe, Keith dialed one more number.

“Hey, Shiro. Have you seen Pidge? He hasn't come home yet and he texted me that he left your lab two hours ago. I'm getting worried." Pidge never takes this long returning from his internship with Shiro, Keith’s close friend and a diligent scientist.

"Hey, Keith, no, I haven't seen Pidge since he left. Although, he might be in hiding because of the villain attack on Arus Drive." 

"Wait-, Villain attack? Arus Drive? That's not too far from you is it? Alright, see you, I've got something I need to do."

"Keith don't do anything stupid-" The raven-haired boy hung up the phone before Shiro could finish, running out of the door. 

' _ Suit up?' _

"Suit up." Keith smirked, the symbiote quickly surrounding him as he ran, giving him an extra foot in height and strength more than twice his own. Onyx goo covering his body, he was an obvious target this time of day but he was also a vicious enemy and protective ally, especially when it came to Pidge.

* * *

Not knowing help was on the way, Pidge found himself being tossed around like a ragdoll, he’d used the last of his webbing to protect a family from being hit with a car. Time and time again he’s tried loading in another cartridge but doing anything was difficult with robotic arms and personal property being aimed at you, he had to find cover, just for a few seconds.

“You’re just mad ‘cuz your name has hag in it.” The spider sputtered out through pained breaths, no one hearing his quip but himself.

Then it hit like a freight train, a black blur through the air, knocking the wind out of its target as her back hit the concrete, the only thing stopping her fall were the robotic arms that now pressed hard against her back. The large inky mass on top of her grinned with a dinosaur-esque smile. 

“And I thought we were going to have to cancel dinner.” Slowly a three foot tongue slid from his mouth and wrapped around the woman’s throat, dripping with slimy saliva.

“I prepared for you, little pet. Soon you’ll see things my way.” 

Before Keith had time to question it, he felt an arm latch onto the back of his neck, sending electricity through his body, causing him to cry out, the symbiote shrivelling away and flailing about his body in pain. When his neck was exposed, he felt something stick into his neck, causing him to black out. The symbiote reformed around him when the current stopped, trying to protect his identity from the villain, wanting its host to stay alive. 

The spider took the time to quickly change cartridges, looking up at the last moment, seeing volts of power coursing through the dark figure. 

Amber eyes behind the mask widened as Pidge saw symbiote dancing around the Keith in agony as it separated from his body, the male going limp and being tossed aside like a piece of filth. 

"Venom!" He called out to the lump on the ground, heart breaking as the symbiote wrapped back around him but the boy underneath didn’t move. 

A spark inside Pidge lit and he shot webbing at the now standing Haggar, pulling himself to her, righteous anger in his masked eyes. The impact caused them both to tumble on the concrete, a mess of arms and webbing as they both tried to incapacitate the other from the fight, but Pidge had a purpose for this tangled mess. 

He jumped off the Doctor and in front of a fire hydrant, webbing it behind his back, waiting for her next move, a predictable move at that. Seconds later, an arm charged with electricity came hurtling towards the webbed warrior. Without a moment to spare, he jumped backwards, yanking off the hydrant using his heightened strength, the arm going into the water’s eruption and dousing the doctor. The electric current giving the doctor a nasty shock, short circuiting the arms and leaving the doctor vulnerable.

Instead of finishing the doctor off, Pidge left her for the police, running to his downed partner and lifting his head gently, symbiote slowly hiding itself, making Keith lighter to carry, as well as making his neck visible. 

He slung the other over his shoulder, webbing off to a nearby building, somewhere close but where they couldn’t be seen by prying eyes. 

He checked his neck first, turning him over and moving away long bits of hair that caressed Keith’s skin. There was no burn mark, probably due to the symbiote’s healing capabilities, but there still seemed to be a bump of some kind. He traced a finger over it curiously, the touch seeming to give the other some kind of reaction because he opened his eyes slowly, coughing and looking up, his hair once again covering the bump. 

“You figure after about 55 volts of electricity going through my body, I’d feel a little more awake than I do right now.” The violet-eyed boy spoke, not moving from his place on the ground. 

“Keith, normal humans die at 42 volts, besides, that was only 51 volts, stop being dramatic. She probably knew it was enough to hurt Venom and knock you out since he took most of the current.”

“No, I’m pretty sure what knocked me out was the pressure point stabbed right into my neck, but hey, I’m not a super smart intern like you.”

“Oh hush, you need to get home and heal, even if Venom took the brunt of it you did get a pretty bad shock and a stab to the neck, another thing most people don’t survive.”

Keith sat up slowly looking over at the other with a playful smirk on his face. “I’m not exactly most people, pigeon, I have an alien inside of me.” 

The symbiote showing itself, a strange look on his face as he wrapped around Keith, his head sprouting from the young man’s shoulder like a growth. 

_ “I sense a disturbance in our body.”  _

“Well, we did just take about 50 volts from a direct current, well over enough to kill me. Pidge is right, we should go lie down,” He looked back over at the smaller, “if I can order us pizza since we had to cancel going out tonight, plus I owe you for saving my butt, again.”

“Keith, it’s my duty, and you’d do the same. With great power comes great responsibility. And that responsibility includes saving your butt and you saving mine, which you did, in fact, do earlier. I can’t take all the credit.”

“Whatever, just let me buy pizza.” He let the symbiote form back over him, waiting for the other to lead on. 

“Okay, but next time I’m buying.” Pidge then started swinging, heading towards the apartment the two had been sharing since the brunette had moved out of his brother’s house. 

“Not with the pay you’re getting.” Keith spoke softly to himself and braced himself to jump from the building, before he could leap, he heard something. 

**_“Your instincts call out to you, yet you continue to ignore them.”_ **

Keith snapped his head in every direction, looking around for the source of the voice, seeing nothing. Until he had a rush of hunger surge through him, his head pounding with cravings he knew he shouldn’t indulge in. And then they were gone. 

“Let’s just head back, we’re probably just hungry.” Keith had caught on to referring to them as a whole, after all, Venom had told them that a symbiote and its host had a bond stronger than marriage. This was probably why he was having a sudden craving for the alien’s monstrous diet of the human brain, something he vowed he’d only do on occasion. 

He shook the thoughts away and jumped, heading back home where Pidge was waiting patiently, blissfully unaware of his boyfriend’s struggles. 

* * *

“What took you so long? Usually you’re right behind me.”

Keith walked in, looking up, Pidge’s voice breaking him away from his thoughts. 

“It’s nothing.” Keith spoke, a lie, but he’d rather not inform Pidge on his current train of thought. He made his way over the couch and sat next to him, stopping every so often to scratch his neck, he didn’t know why but it was pretty itchy. 

“Did you catch fleas or something?” The smaller teased, not seeing anything serious in the other’s slight irritation. 

“No, just itchy, maybe I have a secret metal allergy I don’t know about or something. Besides, if I had fleas I would have caught them from you.”

Pidge seemed to be a bit concerned, now that he took a closer look at it, Keith was scratching where he’d been prodded, right where that bump he’d seen was.

“Are you feeling alright?”

Just as Keith was about to answer, he heard a noise. Like a ringing in his ears, slowly getting louder and louder, making him more and more irritated, the thoughts coming to his mind more violent this time. What was happening? Where was this strange frequency coming from? It was nowhere near 4000 hertz so it wasn’t painful for the symbiote, but boy was it annoying. So annoying that the raven-haired boy could feel anger building, his hunger and impatience growing as well, so much so that his mind became clouded. 

**_“Give in to your instincts, they always win in the end.”_ **

Instincts, things that were slowly rising up from the depths, haunting him and causing him to stumble, causing him to see Pidge as something far different than a significant other. 

The Venom symbiote started to wrap around him, both organisms in a daze of subliminal messages and the ongoing ringing in their shared mind-space. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn’t changed from his suit, Pidge still adorning the clashing combo of red and blue. The colors confused and hurt his frenzied mind, and for some reason, he wanted to tear Pidge apart. 

Pidge noticed Venom gradually encasing him, the look in Keith’s violet eyes causing him to move back, something unfamiliar and foreign in them. The stare as if he were a predator hunting prey, and Pidge had a feeling he was the kill. 

“Uh, K-Keith, are you okay? Keith...Keith!”

Suddenly the frequency became white noise, the brunette’s voice being the focus, his mind clearing for long enough for Keith to realize what was happening, to realize he needed to leave, now. 

“I-I’m fine, just stay away from me, please!” He pleaded, standing and quickly making his way to the door, his neck burning as the chip inside began to do its work. The pain making the symbiote encircle him to find the source and heal it, only this time it was making the frequency louder. The voices and messages affecting what he saw, his vision became blurry as he fought hard against his own impulses.

As Keith left, Pidge knew something was wrong; this had never happened before. The boy and his symbiote were in complete synchronized control since he’d gained the symbiote about a year ago. What just happened moments ago was utter chaos, an obvious struggle for control. But was he really struggling against Venom or was something else to blame, the bump on his neck had something to do with this, he was certain.

Pidge threw on his mask and slipped out the fire escape, making sure to cover his tracks and look as if he were simply coming from around the building, not wanting to give away his personal address. Once he had a bird’s eye view, he could tell exactly where Venom was going, where Keith was going, it’s where he always went to be alone. 

Whenever Keith wanted to be alone, he always went back to the same old building, it was abandoned and dusty, big windows with a perfect view of the moon. He would climb its beams and sit on the ledge, looking up, since it was starting to get dark, this was exactly where he would be. A place of comfort, darkness, and isolation, and with the unstable state that he seemed to be in, this would be a dangerous rescue mission. 

* * *

Keith finally made it to the old warehouse, the noises getting louder than ever, and the more he fought, the stronger the urges were. He gripped his head and screamed, falling to his knees, unable to shake the instincts arising in him. Moments later, he finally succumbed. He was alone, he couldn’t hurt anyone but himself here and he needed to rest, to give in. 

As soon as he buckled under the weight, he went into a frenzied state. Clawing at the walls and tearing apart leftover boxes, looking for any sort of prey, any food source that seemed appealing to him, his fruitless efforts only enraged him more. Soon, the building was trashed, littered with broken boxes and scratched metals. Giving up on his search, he collapsed, the symbiote going back into him as he laid there, staring up at the ceiling as the ringing in his skull continued.

Then he heard a noise, the symbiote taking over and he leapt into the shadows, his obsidian color blending in with the darkness, the shade being his domain. 

“Keith?” The brunette’s voice was gentle and soft, riddled with distress, Pidge was worried. “Keith, let me help you, please. Keith, I love-”

Before the spider could finish his sentence, he felt his head hit the floor, a ringing in his ears as he was pinned by a large creature. Through blurred vision and common sense, he knew this was Venom, his Venom. 

Pidge did his best to shake off the pain, knowing he only had seconds if he wanted to escape, the other’s tongue wrapping around his neck, mouth opening wide, sharp teeth shining in the dim light of the rising moon. 

“Have a Snickers, you’re not you when you’re hungry.” The smaller teased.

With quick thinking, he webbed a metal bar, yanking it over to a nearby beam and bracing himself for the sound that followed. The loud ringing caused Venom to fall back, the symbiote pulling away from the man underneath as he cried out in pain. 

Loud noises, high frequencies, fire, Pidge knew the other’s weaknesses like the back of his hand. 

This seemed to get through to him a bit, pulling away the symbiote took the strong urge to feed and thus the instincts that came with it. 

“Pidge, leave! Please, I don’t want to hurt you!” Keith cried out in torment, his pleas sounding as if each one were ripping into his lungs as they came out like fish hooks. 

“Keith, you know I won’t!” The smaller spider retorted, slowly rising to his feet, the room spinning as his healing kicked in, it’d be a bit before he could see right but he still would make due. “I won’t leave you here, I can’t leave you like this, it’s not only my duty to help you, but it’s my honor. I’d go to the ends of the Earth to save you from this and I know you’d do the same for me, that’s why you came here.”

Slowly the symbiote reattached itself, a look of fear and horror as he fell victim to the control once more, watching self-aware as he did his best to fight, his heart shattering like glass as he realized the damage he’s done. 

“Don’t let me let the dark take over.” Keith whispered, imploring the brunette to save him from himself. In an instant, he was gone, caught in the undertow of his own mind as he lost control, the symbiote enveloping him once more. 

That was Keith, his Keith, he is in there and he felt every attack Pidge made, every cry out would be heard, and all he could do was sit back and listen, doing his best to drown out whatever was going on in his head. Keith was in there fighting for his life and all he could do was fight him as well, no, he couldn’t do this, and his head injury was definitely not making it easy. So then and there, Pidge knew what he had to do, he needed to give Keith more of a reason to fight. 

He had to get whatever it was out of Keith’s neck, he knew that was the cause of this, but first, Pidge had to give in. He looked around, running and swinging away from the reawakened Venom, searching for something he could use to cut the foreign object out with, and hoping his plan would work.

Amber eyes finally landed upon a shard of metal from the pipe, it had to have broken off during impact. He jumped down from his web, rolled and grabbed it, webbing it to his back for safekeeping. 

Now was the part he couldn’t control, he had to put all of his faith in Keith, but Pidge was pretty sure he did that the night they had their first kiss. Or maybe the night he came out as trans, scared his friend would turn away from him or be unsupportive. Every single time he put his trust in Keith, he accepted him, loved him, cherished him, treating his trust like an honor and putting it on a pillow, carrying it gently as he went on through life with the brunette. He knew this would work, because it always had.

Pidge was backed up against a wall, but he didn’t swing, he didn’t run, he didn’t fight. He stood there, putting his trust in Keith once again, even if it could be his last.

His trust was met with a hand grasping his throat, holding him against the wall as he struggled, but his faith didn’t diminish, he still trusted Keith to make it through this. 

Behind a barrier of rage and raw instinct, there was a scared man trying his best to fight past the noises, past the voices in his mind telling him to destroy someone so pure and beautiful to him. As he looked at the boy he held against the wall, his grip getting tighter against his throat each second, he saw a familiar look in his eyes, one he could never get tired of. The look of love and adoration, of absolute trust and care, the same look he saw each time they kissed. 

Suddenly Keith broke free from the noise, pushing past it all just to see those beautiful fawn eyes looking at him with such affection, and it all began to clear. His face was revealed as the symbiote fell away, lavender pools gazing at what he’d done. 

His hand was released, and he fell to his knees, no alien specimen to be seen, just a broken boy with tears falling down his face, repulsed by he’d just done, appalled by how he tried to kill the very one he’d die for.

“I’m so sorry, I-” Keith spoke, too ashamed to lift his head. 

“Keith, this wasn’t you.” Pidge coughed out, regaining air stolen from him, desperate to remove whatever it was that had been implanted in the other before it took over once more. “Just stay still and let me help you, just trust me.”

Without a word more, Keith untensed, not moving from where he was, returning the very trust put into him moments prior. 

Pidge nodded to himself, pulling the shard from his back and clearing the webbing from it, gently brushing away the silky black hair that covered the taller’s neck, once more eyeing the bump. It looked irritated from him scratching and his body was definitely not agreeing with it being there. Pidge definitely wanted to get this out, he just hoped there weren’t any side effects.

“This will sting a little.”

“That’s fine, I kinda deserve it after that hit you took.”

“Keith, I’ll heal, just relax and try not to move, I took chemical engineering not anatomy.”

Pidge took the metal piece, using it to make a nice cut in the other’s neck, earning a small flinch from him. Now was the tricky part, actually getting it out. He pushed at the opposite end of the bump on the taller’s neck, trying to perhaps nudge it out without having to dig around under his skin, slowly but surely the small chip came out. It took a few very uncomfortable feelings and yelps from Keith, but he felt a lot better when it was removed, as did Venom. 

The symbiote showed itself again when it was removed, healing the wound and looking up at the brunette.  _ “We thank you for freeing us, the frequency drove us to madness, to instinct, and thus we attacked blindly. We are sorry and we owe you our lives.” _

Keith looked up as well, the same thoughts showing through his eyes, and he rose to look at the smaller and cupped his cheek. “Everything that seems to happen to me, you take the pain away, you mean life and death to me, pigeon and wouldn’t trade you for the world. I love you.” 

With that, he slowly leaned in pressing a kiss to his lips, smiling softly. Pidge blushed, breaking the chip in half before dropping it, and kissing the one he’d always trust. 

After a few moments they pulled away, the brunette looking up at his partner, a gentle smile on his face. “Let’s go home.”


End file.
